The Zen Master's Dance - 12 - Genjo Koan (Chapter Start to end of p. 55)

[Jundo]

Dear All,

We now turn to Master Dogen's Genjo Koan, perhaps the clearest and most direct entrance into Master's Dogen vision. We begin from the start of the chapter on p. 51, ending at the bottom of p. 55 (right BEFORE the sentence, "And so, Dogen next addresses these questions:")

Dogen presents a series of ways of encountering this life-self-world:

- Our ordinary vision of division, me and you, high and low, good and bad, here and there ...

- A vision which sweeps that away into wholeness, peace, resolution ...

- A vision in which all of the above is encountered to be true at once, two faces of a no-sided coin ...

I believe that it is very much a dance of inter-identity of the so-called "relative and absolute", that "mountains are mountains when we first start to practice ... then we realize mountains are not mountains, ... then mountains are mountains again,and yet, are not know the same way as before")

- And yet, even with such wisdom, life is hard sometimes. Easy sometimes, but hard sometimes.

I would like you to play this game, following the wording, grammar and structure of Dogen's four phrases with something in your life or of interest to you. For example, if I were to take football ...

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha’s teachings, there is the ball, there is the distant goalline, there are plays to move us from the former to the latter, there is winning and losing, the first half and the second half, there is my team and your team, spectators and judges that stand apart.

When the myriad things are realized as each without an individual self, there is no ball and no separate goalline, no plays, no points to measure, no clock, no divided teams, no seers/seen and nothing to judge.

In the Buddha Way, we must leap clear of and right through both the view of fullness and the view of lack; thus there are again the ball and goalline, plays, winning and losing, halfs and teams, spectators and judges.

Yet even so, sometimes we fumble although we had the ball, sometimes we get blocked although we want to score.

Now, without reading what anyone else has written until after, please write the same about any activity or situation in your life.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

Sorry to run long

[Dogukan]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha’s teachings, there is a brick-and-mortar Zendo and there is an online one, there are distances between me and you, there is my face and the digital reflection of my face, the timezones, mornings & evenings, there are different countries, continents, and languages.

When the myriad things are realized as each without an individual self, there are no bricks and no mortars, no timezones, no distances to separate us, no mornings, no evenings, and since there is no individual self, there is no difference between me (who is also an empty reflection in this dreamlike world) and my digital reflection on Zoom, also no different countries, no continents, no languages.

In the Buddha Way, we must leap clear of and right through both the view of fullness and the view of lack; thus there are again on-site and online meetings, my face that I can touch and the image of it on my camera, there are again distances, different timezones, countries, continents, and languages.

Yet even so, sometimes we can be inept although we sit in the same room with others. Sometimes, in our minds, we can live in a different country and breath a completely distant timezone although we share the very same time and space with others. So we are sitting together, in the same room and at the same time; yet, each of us is sitting in our personal rooms while the arrows of our clocks point to different numbers.

PS. Thank you Jundo for making your beautiful book accessible to me. Glad I caught you.

Gassho,
Doğukan.
Sat.

[Jundo]

[Tairin]

Fun exercise

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha’s teachings, there is the music, there is a future performance, and there is the regular practice to move us from the former to the latter, there is frustration and elation, there is missed cues and cohesion, there is flubbed notes and perfect time, performers and the audience that stand apart.

When the myriad things are realized as each without an individual self, there is no music and no separate performance, no notes to flub, no cues to miss, no chords to strum, no cohesion or lack of cohesion, no performers and nothing to be listened to.

In the Buddha Way, we must leap clear of and right through both the view of fullness and the view of lack; thus there are again music and performances, notes, cues, chords, beats, mistakes, cohesion, performers and audience .

Yet even so, sometimes we play well to a sparse audience, sometimes we flub our performance in front of a full house.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[aprapti]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha’s teachings, there is the tea, there is the guest, there are the utensils, there is the temmae, there is the host, all stand apart.

When the myriad things are realized as each without an individual self, there is no guest, no host, no utensils, no tea, no procedure.

In the Buddha Way, we must leap clear of and right through both the view of fullness and the view of lack; thus there are again guest and host, tea, utensils and a temmae.

Yet even so, sometimes we make a beautiful cup of tea, sometimes we just make some green stuff.



aprapti

sat

[Jundo]

[Tairin]

Yet even so, sometimes we make a beautiful cup of tea, sometimes we just make some green stuff.

Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Onkai]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha's teachings, there is a plot, conflict, rising action, resolution, publishable works, and unpublishable works, fans and critics, and separate writers of varying storytelling skills.

When myriad things are realized as each without a separate self, there are no differing plots, rising actions, resolutions, publishable or unpublishable stories, nor are there fans or critics.

In the Buddha way, we must leap clear of and right through the view of fullness and lack; this there are again plots, rising actions, resolutions, publishable and unpublishable works, and fans and critics.

Even so, sometimes our stories sometimes fall flat though we had a premise, and sometimes we ramble on though we had a plan.

Thank you, Jundo. I don't know if I did the exercise correctly, but the attempt brought a smile to my face.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/lah

[Jundo]

[Gregor]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha way, there are books, authors, and readers.

When the myriad things are realized without an individual self there is no book, no author, no reader.

In the Buddha way, we must leap clear right through this view of both fullness and lack, then again there is a book and an author and a reader.

Yet even so sometimes there are paper cuts. Sometimes the book is overdue and the library charges fees.

[Jundo]

[DGF]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha’s teachings, there is the Surfer ,there is the wave and there is a surfboard.

There are waves that will knock us from our boards, there are surfers being pushed under the waters, there are surfers diving under the waves , and there is standing on the center of your board and there is falling from your board.

When the myriad things are realized as each without an individual self, there is no surfer and no separate wave, no surfsboards, No Surfing , no diving under, there is no struggling,no peddling against the wave,and there is no going with the wave.

In the Buddha Way, we must leap clear of and right through both the view of fullness and the view of lack; thus there are again the surfer,the wave, the surfboard

Yet even so, sometimes we surf in perfect balance, sometimes we fall because we lose balance.sometimes we pushed under the waves, Sometimes we dive under the waves.


Gassho,
Sattoday
Diana

[Jundo]

[Eamonn]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha's teaching, there are chores: there are the clothes, there is laundering, there are the floors, there are windows, there is cleaning, there are bills, there is paying. There is procrastinating, there is working hard. There is getting stuff done, there is not getting things done.

When the myriad things are realized as such without an individual self, there are no clothes, no floors, no windows, no cleaning, no bills, no paying, no achieving, no failing to achieve.

In the Buddha way we must leap clear of and right through the view of chores and the view of no chores. Thus there are again floors and windows and cleaning, bills and paying, getting things done and not getting things done.

Yet even so, sometimes the floor is still dirty and the bills haven't been paid.

Gassho,
Eamonn

Sat Today

[Jundo]

When things are seen as separate in the Buddha's teaching, there are chores: there are the clothes, there is laundering, ...

Lovely.

(By the way, the below is a FAKE Buddha quote. Buddha never said such a thing, I am pretty sure, and I believe that it is actually Jack Kornfield. However, it seems appropriate. )